- May 5, 2024
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The following letter was sent on Aug. 21 to Flagler County Supervisor of Elections Kimberle B. Weeks, who has requested that the city of Palm Coast make the Community Center available for use during the 2014 elections. After disputes about who would pay the associated costs, Palm Coast City Manager Jim Landon sent the following response:
Dear Ms. Weeks:
I am writing to confirm that the city of Palm Coast fully supports the use of the Palm Coast Community Center for both early voting and on election days for the 2014 countywide elections. As you may recall, the city supported the use of the center as an early voting location for our last municipal elections, but, at that time, the Florida election laws would not allow community centers to be used for early voting. We have confirmed that the state election laws were amended this year to allow the use of community centers for early voting. Palm Coast City Council continues to support this very convenient location for Flagler County voters.
Historically, the Palm Coast Community Center has been used as a polling place on election days. The city will continue to make the Community Center available on election days, and we are willing to make it available to Flagler County as an early voting location for all future elections. The city has never charged a rental fee to Flagler County for the use of the center as a polling place, and the city will continue to waive the rental fee for elections, including early voting.
Voting hours extend beyond the regular business hours of our Community Center. These extended hours during four weeks of early voting and two election days represent additional staffing costs to Palm Coast taxpayers. Because these are countywide elections available to all Flagler County voters, it would be fair that all staffing costs during these extended hours be paid from countywide tax dollars used for conducting the elections. However, we are proposing that if you will assure us that you will not charge the Palm Coast taxpayers, through the city budget, for any elections costs, we will agree to pay the extra Community Center city staffing costs caused by an election out of the city budget. If you plan to bill Palm Coast taxpayers, through the city, for a portion of the elections costs, then we will ask that you pay the actual city expenses for staffing our Community Center for the extended hours during polling times from your countywide budget for elections. Please confirm how you would like to handle these direct costs for elections.
You have specifically asked that our large meeting room, where City Council holds its business meetings, be made available for your exclusive use during early voting and on election days. This room is used for City Council business meetings and other regular events, and it will not be available for the four weeks of early voting and most of the election days. As usual, we will make the smaller meeting room in our Community Center available for your exclusive use as a polling place. This smaller meeting room has been used for elections in the past and provides plenty of space for your needs
Lastly, you have asked to come to a City Council meeting to discuss the 2014 election and the use of our Community Center for voting. In that this will be the first year that the Palm Coast municipal elections will be held in conjunction with the county, state and national elections, council members would like to hear your plans for the 2014 election. We have scheduled you on the Palm Coast City Council workshop agenda for 9 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10, at City Offices in City Marketplace, 160 Cypress Point Parkway, Suite B106. If there is any action required by City Council, we will plan to add the action item to the City Council business meeting agenda for 9 a.m. the following Tuesday, Sept. 17, at the Palm Coast Community Center, 305 Palm Coast Parkway N.E. We look forward to hearing about your plans for the 2014 elections.
Sincerely,
Jim Landon
City Manager
Read Kimberle Weeks' response to this letter here.
